Chapter 9

Hermione was sitting cross-legged on the floor outside of their tent working on Ida after her morning katas. The little droid didn't malfunction, but she just needed to keep it well maintained. And it calmed her working on it. She was in an impasse with her lightsabres. Something was missing, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

"Someone helped us," she overheard Ron say while he pretended to search for some berries in order to appear helpful and most especially to appease her. She mentally giggled at that. "Someone sent that doe. Someone's on our side. One Horcrux down, mate!"

Harry had persuaded her to restore Ron's memories the day before and bolstered by the destruction of the locket they set to debating the possible locations of the other Horcruxes, and even though they had discussed the matter so often before, she could sense that Harry felt optimistic again, certain that more breakthroughs would succeed. She pondered on the doe for a while. Who in the order had a doe as a Patronus? To her dismay, she had to concede that she had no idea. Perhaps someone from her brother's resistance group? But that was also unlikely as she hadn't told him about the Horcruxes. McGonagall's Patronus was a cat, but she had no idea about the other teacher's patronuses. Flitwick, perhaps? Sprout? Snape, being a Death Eater was rather unlikely. But it was the sword of Gryffindor. There was no doubt in it.

Hermione checked over Ida one more time and hit the activation button. The little droid shot up a few feet in the air and chirped several confused curses in droid-speak.

"Calm down!" Hermione beseeched the hovering droid. "I just checked if all your functions are working fine." She nodded at it's probing. "Yes, they do work fine."

"I don't like that thing." She heard Ron complain to Harry. "Just as creepy as the spider you practised on earlier." Harry chuckled.

Hermione stood up and approached them noiselessly from behind. "Except that Ida could actually save your life, Ronald." Both her friends jumped and quickly turned towards her. Hermione mentally cheered at their surprised faces.

"You just need more practice, you two." She told them what she hoped to sound encouraging. Harry was about to retort but kept quiet. Probably to not stress their situation. "I know that these wands feel strange, but I'd hoped that by commissioning the same specifications as your old ones, they might be handier than some randomly chosen other wands."

"Yeah, that was good thinking, Mione." Ron agreed eagerly, while Harry was partially amused and annoyed at his friend's behaviour. But he wanted to whack his glove towards the back of Ron's head.

"Agreed, but to me, it almost feels as if I cheat on the Fawkes who gave his feather willingly." Harry tried to explain her.

"You are not cheating on Fawkes." Hermione said. "I'm pretty sure that he knows that you appreciate his generosity and when all of this is over you can use your wand again. But until then he surely is alright with you using the wand of a … friend of his."

"Or enemy of his." Harry murmured.

"Well, Fawkes is a domesticated bird. It's possible that the feather in your wand is from a wild one." Hermione mused.

"Ah, well we, unfortunately, didn't find any wild berries." Ron changed the subject and uncomfortably scratched the back of his head.

"I'm not going to say 'I told you so' "Hermione answered jokingly and turned around towards their tent "But I did bloody tell you."

"Blimey Hermione, language." Ron joked back and she could hear Harry sigh.

A few hours later it was Hermione's turn to cook. Yet they had to become more creative as their vast provisions were slowly running low. It seemed that she had miscalculated.

"I want to go and see the Lovegoods." Hermione told them later sitting around the stove in the tent stirring the pot.

"That's not a good idea." Harry cut in brushing his hand through his hair. "We could put them in danger and I really don't want to repeat the last encounter with the snatchers."

"Understandable." Hermione nodded. "But I'm afraid we can't get around that. Last time you both could easily have taken the snatchers out, but you hesitated. Next time you just have to remember that."

"Hey, we weren't the only ones who hesitated, Mione. You did as well. So, don't blame us." Harry raised his index finger stabbing it towards her.

She scowled. Damn, Harry was too perceptive sometimes. "Well, I won't make the same mistake twice. And neither should you. Both of you."

"Let's put it to a vote, shall we," Ron suggested eagerly raising his hand bringing the discussion back to the Lovegoods. Hermione grinned and put hers up as well, raising her eyebrow challengingly. "Democracy in action. Sorry, Harry." The ginger stated clapping Harry onto the back.

"Well, this wasn't really a request, but a friendly formulated order." Hermione shrugged unsuccessfully trying to hide her amusement. "But thanks anyway, Ron."

"No, hold on!" Harry interrupted her. "It IS dangerous. Why would you risk endangering the two? They have declared themselves loyal to me. So, they are bound to be under close observation"

"You are correct, Harry." Hermione answered plopping down on her cot. "But so, far we only have ideas where the other Horcruxes might be or who the Fisherking might have given them to."

"Wait, you think that Lovegood knows the whereabouts? That's mental." Ron said.

"No, Ronald." Hermione changed into her lecturing tone. "You said it yourself. Dumbledore left you the illuminator, which brought you back to us, he left me this old version, of beetle the bard and Harry his snitch. What if his gifts are more than just random things, but actually are the key to all of this?"

"How should a children's book help us with Horcruxes?" Ron lamented.

"Because it isn't exactly a children's book," Hermione told him. "It's written on old, weathered parchment, the binding was changed several times already and most importantly, the text is written in ancient runes and Middle English. Not the standardized, modernized runes we are using since the eighteenth century. These are the elder rune scripts, which makes this a script that is probably closest to the original versions. This book is technically invaluable."

"Ok," Harry asked. "What does this have to do with the Lovegoods?"

"This sign," Hermione told them opening the scandalous biography of Dumbledore, the tales of Beedle the Bard and showed them. "This sign keeps popping up and it isn't a rune. It was in Godric's Hollow, it is edged and drawn in the pages of Beedle the Bard and Dumbledore used it as his signature in a letter."

"Wait, wasn't that the sign Krumm was so agitated about?" Ron enquired seeing it on one of the pages.

"Yes." Hermione was surprised that Ron remembered that. "He believed it to be Grindelwald's sign, but the dark wizard might just have appropriated the sign for his own pursuits. I mean it wouldn't be the first time that a maniac appropriated much older signs with different denotations. Viktor just doesn't seem to know that. Considering that Grindelwald was expelled from Durmstrang, they might not teach the historical background of it. From what I could gather at the wedding, the Lovegoods might have some knowledge about the sign.

"Yeah, but what if their 'knowledge' is actually just something that they are fantasizing about?" Ron reminded her.

"I guess we have to take that risk." Hermione shrugged knowing full well that she was clutching at straws.

"We could also contact your brother," Harry suggested. "I mean somebody might know something about it."

"No, that's too risky. Galen works with all kinds of people. It is possible that he has some untrustworthy spies in his little organization who could report back to the Death Eaters and alert the Fisherking. Look, I can feel that this is important. A sign that links Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Godric's Hollow? Harry, I'm sure we ought to know about this!" she insisted. The Force was urging her to follow this lead.

Harry sighed rubbing his front. "Fine," said Harry, half amused, half irritated. "Only, once we've seen Lovegood, let's try and look for some more Horcruxes, shall we?"

"Well, that is the plan, but it is possible that we might find out something that actually helps us in their pursuit." Hermione nodded. "Luna does live close to the Burrow, doesn't she?"

Ron nodded stepping closer to Hermione beaming at her. "Yeah, dunno exactly where, but Mum and Dad always point toward the hills whenever they mention them. Shouldn't be hard to find."

She took a step back contemplating. The force urged her to take this step of meeting the Lovegoods, but she could also feel darkness and danger at the edges of her consciousness. Ready to strike. So, they had to be prepared for everything. There was danger lurking in that direction.

"Alright." Hermione squared her shoulders. "then we need to prepare. Harry is right, that this could be dangerous for us and them. So, we should be prepared for everything, for all eventualities. Our best possibility is the darkness of the night so that we could arrive there shortly before dawn."

"Yeah, that doesn't sound like your best idea, Hermione." Harry grit his teeth. "I mean Mr Lovegood will probably blast us into oblivion when they are woken up so early and he could confuse us with Deatheaters coming for him at that time."

She nodded. "I see where you are coming from, but I've given this some thought. It's a new moon. That means that there won't be any light from above, we can't use our wands to light our way, but I know a spell that can give us night vision. Additionally, to that, I will cast notice me not spell onto us. So, today is the perfect opportunity to visit them. You will hike hidden under your invisibility cloak and Ron and I will use Polyjuice potion during our journey. Once we reach their house you will reveal yourself and then we will ask the questions and make sure to dash afterwards. I want you to have your wands ready in case we are attacked. No, hesitation this time."

"Yeah, that is a good plan." Ron agreed grinning at Harry who rolled his eyes fighting back a grin. Hermione could swear that she heard him murmur "whipped" under his breath.

"No, it really isn't but it's the best I could come up with at such short notice." She smiled at him warmth blossoming in her heart. She shook her head. No time for emotions right now. Bo-Katan would have whacked her on the back of her head for this. Hard and let her complete another obstacle course for good measure.

She stepped towards the table and summoned her bag. "I suggest we eat first, I made sure that it's not something that causes bad breath and prepare. We leave shortly after midnight."

They had packed everything inside the tent, but Hermione hesitated. Should she put on her armour? Technically the idea was that they had to appear inconspicuous. But… She hesitated. The darkness simmering just at the edges of her awareness. There was a confrontation to come. Her fingers itched to get her armour out of her bag, but what if she frightened the Lovegoods with her appearance?

"There are two reasons why we have to wear armour. One is so that we don't get killed too easily. The other is so that we all look Mandalorian, however different we may be from our brothers and sisters. Some clans even believe that they shouldn't show your face until you've earned your signet." The memory wafted through her mind as her grandmother had told her this just before she had received her armour that the leader of her clan had chosen for her with the help of her cousin Korkie. The armor that she had already reforged twice so that it fit her like a second skin and she still hadn't had her own signet but hoped that she might earn it on this quest.

She shook her head murmuring: "Verd ori'shya beskar'gam. (=A warrior is more than his armour)" She pulled out her vambraces, shrugged out of her jacket and put them on where they immediately adjusted to her size. With a few taps, the computer activated and displayed that everything was ready. She might not be able to wear her full armour, her lightsabres were still not functioning, but she wouldn't go unprotected into battle. And one of her blasters was hooked to her side. The fact that Death Eaters had no, or very limited knowledge of technology could play into her hands. A few seconds later a bomb and two small grenades came flying out of her bag, which she quickly pocketed. She couldn't pocket more otherwise she might run out of them too soon. Closing her jacket, she put on her harness and closed the clip under her breast. This time ID-9 would stay on her back, just in case. It would look like a small backpack until she activated it. Ida chirped somewhere above her, and her upper body was pushed forward as it settled into it. Ron and Harry were watching her verily.

"How many of these things are in there?" Harry asked verily.

"Enough for the moment", she snapped defensively knowing that her stack of grenades was slowly nearing its end. She should have tried to get her hands on more ammunition, but that would have been too suspicious and obvious. Mandalorians always knew how much ammunition they had. The rebel cells where less cautious, which had played into her favour.

They had walked for a few hours, just like Hermione had planned. Nature was eerily calm, and barely any snow was lying on the ground, yet some taste of spring was already palatable in the air. The only sound they heard for hours was the crunching of their footsteps on the cold, hard frozen ground and their occasional conversation. At the crack of dawn, a cluster of low hills appeared to be uninhabited apart from one small cottage, which seemed deserted. It seemed that they were way too early.

"Do you think it's theirs, and they've gone away for Christmas?" said Hermione whispered to her two friends. Peering through the window at a neat little kitchen with geraniums on the windowsill. Nope, this house didn't particularly seem to have much in common with the Lovegoods. It was way too traditional.

Ron snorted. "Listen, I've got a feeling you'd be able to tell who lived there if you looked through the Lovegoods' window. Let's try the next lot of hills."

One and a half hours later they arrived at the next set of hills and Ron shouted as the cold wind whipped their hair and clothes. "Aha!" He was pointing upward, toward the top of the hill where a most strange-looking house rose vertically against the sky, a great black cylinder with a ghostly moon hanging behind it in the afternoon sky. "That's got to be Luna's house, who else would live in a place like that? It looks like a giant rook!"

Harry, panting and clutching stitches at the sides ground out. "Way to wake up the entire neighbourhood, Ron."

"What?" He queried biting his lower lip sheepishly.

"He means that you are too loud, Ron." She clarified, opening the gate which creaked and made her wince. Great. So much for stealth.

"Ok, he got it I guess." Harry defended him following her through meandering pathway towards the house, passed two aged crab apple trees, bent with the wind, stripped of leaves but still heavy with frozen berry-sized red fruits and bushy crowns of white-beaded mistletoe, stood sentinel on either side of the front door. They were being watched. Her sense prickled. There! A little owl with a slightly flattened, hawk-like head peered down at them from one of the branches. Hermione didn't like that bird particularly. It followed their every move. She stopped in her tracks and searched for the exact spot of that bird. It was analysing them. Yet not in an animalistic way. Very analytical. She grabbed her wand and hurled a petrificus totalus at the unsuspecting bird, which unceremoniously fell from the tree into the pile of frozen leaves with a slight swish.

"What the hell did you that for?" Harry hissed behind her. "The owl can't hurt anybody."

"You did mention earlier that the Lovegoods might be under surveillance by the Ministry." She hissed back. "That owl doesn't feel like a regular owl. Considering it is the only living thing in this garden, it could be an Animagus."

"So, you are not taking any chances, right? " Ron whispered from behind them and Hermione nodded. "Poor birdy." Ron mumbled. "It's not a bird." She hissed back.

"You'd better take off the Invisibility Cloak, Harry," said Hermione when they stepped towards the door. "It's you Mr Lovegood wants to help, not us and he probably won't recognize us under our disguise."

He did as she suggested, handing her the Cloak to stow in the beaded bag. She then rapped three times on the thick black door and braced herself when she detected that a very nervous presence was already pacing behind the door. It seemed that he had already been up.

Barely ten seconds passed, then the door was flung open and there stood Xenophilius Lovegood, barefoot and wearing what appeared to be a stained nightshirt. His long white candyfloss hair was dirty and unkempt.

"What? What is it? Who are you? What do you want?" he cried in a high-pitched, querulous voice, looking first at Hermione, then at Ron, and finally at Harry, upon which his mouth fell open in a perfect, comical O.

"Hello, Mr. Lovegood," said Harry, holding out his hand. "I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

Xenophilius did not take Harry's hand, although the eye that was not pointing inward at his nose slid straight to the scar on Harry's forehead.

"I know, I don't have my black hair at the moment. Would it be okay if we came in?" asked Harry calmly. "There's something we'd like to ask you."

"I . . . I'm not sure that's advisable," whispered Xenophilius. He swallowed and cast a quick look around the garden. "Rather a shock . . . My word . . . I . . . I'm afraid I don't really think I ought to —"

"It won't take long," said Harry, slightly disappointed by this less-than-warm welcome.

"We wouldn't be here if we could have avoided it, but your valuable insight into certain matters are the only thing that might help us. Please Mr. Lovegood. You are our only hope." His eyes darted to her. He clearly was fighting with himself. He felt torn. He missed something. Or someone? It seemed as if his fear was winning and he could have slammed his door shut at every second. His hands were trembling.

"M…M…Me?" he asked with unsure voice and Hermione nodded empathically.

"The ministry won't come for some time. We took out their little spy in the tree a few minutes ago. When we leave, we will take his memories and revive him." She beseeched him and his eyes bulged, his eyes darted towards the tree and back at them. Harry shook his head at her clearly unhappy with that admission.

"I — oh, all right then. Come in, quickly. Quickly!" he stuttered hesitantly. They were barely over the threshold when Xenophilius slammed the door shut behind them and ushered them through the rather peculiar, yet very Lovegoodish kitchen towards a wrought-iron spiral staircase led to the upper levels. "You'd better come up," said Xenophilius, still looking extremely uncomfortable as he led the way. He was shaking nervously. Hermione could swear that she saw pearls of cold sweat running down his front.

The room above seemed to be a combination was an utter mess, that even surpassed the one in the kitchen. The loud clattering and banging came from a wooden printing machine that was busily working its magic. Harry was taking everything in, his face full of childlike wonder.

Hermione, however stopped in her tracks, when her gaze fell upon an enormous, grey spiral horn, not unlike that of a unicorn, which had been mounted on the wall, protruding several feet into the room. Her breath hitched and she took a deep breath. Crying out in shock could stop their lucky streak and cause Xenophilius to shut down. She had to stay calm.

"Mr Lovegood? Why do you have an erumpent Horn in your house? They are It's a Class B Tradeable Material and it's an extraordinarily dangerous thing to have in a house!" she enquired portraying calmness when she was mentally preparing for the worst. That thing could destroy the entire building within seconds.

"Nonsense, it's the horn of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack," said Xenophilius very clearly, a mulish look upon his face, "which is a shy and highly magical creature, and its horn —"

"With all due respect, Mr Lovegood, I recognize the grooved markings around the base, that's an Erumpent horn and it's incredibly dangerous — I don't know where you got it…" she interrupted him but he returned the favour, clearly being displeased by her.

"I bought it," said Xenophilius dogmatically, "two weeks ago, from a delightful young wizard who knew of my interest in the exquisite Snorkack. A Christmas surprise for my Luna."

Hermione nodded and bit her tongue. Her retort wouldn't be helpful. Well, he is either completely naïve or somebody wants to take him out subtly.

Why exactly have you come here, Mr Potter?"

"We need some help," said Harry quickly.

"Ah," said Xenophilius. "Help. Hmm."

His good eye moved again to Harry's scar. He seemed simultaneously terrified and mesmerized.

"Yes. The thing is . . . helping Harry Potter . . . rather dangerous . . ." he wrung his hands.

"Aren't you the one who keeps telling everyone it's their first duty to help Harry?" said Ron with rising voice "In that magazine of yours?"

Xenophilius glanced behind him at the concealed printing press, still banging and clattering beneath the tablecloth.

"Er — yes, I have expressed that view. However —"

"That's for everyone else to do, not you personally?" Ron accused him.

Xenophilius flinched and did not answer. He kept swallowing, his eyes darting between the three of them. He was undergoing some painful internal struggle.

Before her ginger friend could say anything else Hermione locked eyes with him. She wanted to side with Ron, putting the publisher in his place, but his anguish was almost unbearable.

"Look, Mr Lovegood. I understand that you are worried about what could happen if the Deatheaters find out that I've been here. I really understand, but Luna could vouch for us. Perhaps you could ask her?"

Xenophilius shook his head, his lips quivering. That's when it hit Hermione. She had been so preoccupied with the Erumpent Horn that she hadn't paid attention to her immediate surroundings inside the house. A dangerous oversight. She berated herself.

Xenophilius gulped. He seemed to be steeling himself. Finally, he said in a shaky voice difficult to hear over the noise of the printing press, "Luna is down at the stream, fishing for Freshwater Plimpies. She . . . she will like to see you. I'll go and call her and then — yes, very well. I shall try to help you."

Hermione stopped him from stepping down the stairs. "There was a reason why you changed your affiliation. Am I right?"

He stopped in his tracks and turned towards her. He was barely holding it together.

"Yes." He ground out his shoulders tensing, holding back tears.

"No!" Harry shouted out with wide eyes.

"Yes, they took her. They took my Luna." He continued to shake but lost the fight against his tears. "They took my Luna."

He plumbed into one of the chairs with a loud thud, tears streaming down his face. "They took her and I haven't heard from her for months?" he whimpered and Hermione slammed her mental defences into place. She couldn't succumb to all the feelings around her. She needed to keep calm. She carefully guided her rising ire into the Force. She couldn't hold it. Luna, innocent Luna. She didn't want to imagine what the scumbags could do to her. No, she had to stay calm. Closing her eyes, she took another deep breath. Ron and Harry were just as shocked as her, but she should have anticipated that this could happen. "They…they were angry about the things I printed. So…. So, they took her." He whimpered, tears streaming down his puffy face. "She's all I have."

"Mr. Lovegood, we are so sorry," Harry told him kneeling next to the broken man. He put his hand on Mr. Lovegood's arm. "We didn't know about that. We promise that we will do everything we can to get her back."

"Don't make promises you can't keep Harry." Hermine admonished him drily and saw her friends jaws drop and his anger flare-up.

"Hermione, if Luna was taken then we need to find her before they could do anything to her." Ron argued and Mr. Lovegood nodded or rather wobbled his head in agreement.

"I agree with you both, that we need to find and free her," Hermione said cooly. "But giving promises that we can't keep won't help anybody. Neither Luna, nor Mr. Lovegood. And we do not have the time to run this errand if we want to stop You-know-who for good."

Mr. Lovegood shook as another wave of emotions hit him. Hermione fought to block it out from her senses.

"Hermione. You are being insensitive again. We have to find her." Harry beseeched her. "This is Luna we are talking about. We can't leave her behind." He was terrified and worried for her.

"I never said that we'd leave her behind, but it won't be our team searching for her." She told them. "Mr. Lovegood. I know just the person to contact who has the means to find Luna, but first we need your help."

He nodded diminutively a few times. "Yes. Of course, I'll help if you can get me my Luna back. But before I help you, I need you to fulfil your bargain first. And get in contact with that person." He gulped. "As you said earlier that you couldn't do this yourself, I need an assurance that you keep your promise."

You are cleverer, than you look old man. She had to begrudged admit or he was stalling for time.

"Fair enough." She inclined her head and pulled her jacket back revealing her left vambrace and activated her comm.

"Su'cuy Ori'vod. (Hailing big brother.)" Hermione spoke into it.

"Elek, Hermione." Her brother answered swiftly and the three others in the room jumped. "Copaani gaan, ner vod? (=Need a hand, Sister?)

"'lek.(=she told him)" She told him, her gaze drawn to Lovegood's confused face. "Luna Lovegood was taken by the Death Eaters."

"Mhi kar'tayli (= we know)" he responded. "They couldn't have taken her to the ministry, so we suspect that they have her in their aloriya (=headquarters)."

"Any chance of getting her out?" Hermione asked knowing the answer. If Galen knew and they hadn't tried, then it was impossible, or she just wasn't a priority. But she wouldn't tell the worried man slumped in his chair. As Galen had slipped back to Mando'a he probably suspected that she was at the Lovegoods and the editor might listen in.

"We're working on that. Its defences are tight and Ms. Lovegood isn't the only person we want to spring out from there." He sounded exhausted.

"What are the chances of having been harmed?" she enquired with a steady voice, steadier than she felt anyways.

"It's hard to say. As she is a pureblood coming from two old pureblood lines, she is considered as valuable breeding stock." Galen stopped shortly. Mr Lovegood wailed at hearing that. Harry and Ron also expressed their shock and Hermione swore to rip the Death Eaters to pieces who dared to lay a hand on Luna in that way. "Ori'haat. (=It's the truth, I swear—no bull.). It's a new policy the Ministry is working on for a time …after Harry Potter's demise." He stopped again. "So, any potential young bride for the new policy can't visibly be harmed."

"Vor'e, ner vod.(=thanks, brother)." She ground out fighting her rising fury. "Should you be able to free Luna, could you please get her and her father into a safe house?"

"Hermione, you know we can't make promises. If we somehow manage to spring her out from there, then she and her father are perfectly welcome to hide in one of our safe houses." He told them and Hermione could swear that he sounded a bit annoyed. Since when was his temper getting the better of him? Things really had to be extremely bad on his front or she caught him at a bad time.

"Vor entye (=Thank you!)" Hermione ended the call abruptly and addressed Mr Lovegood, who seemed to have found some strength from that conversation. "Now, as you've probably heard, there is a team trying to free her, would you please be so kind and help us now?"

Mr. Lovegood nodded hesitantly and opened his mouth but no words came out…

Suddenly, a sharp loud knock from downstairs made the entire group jump. Someone was knocking on the door! The Force around her darkened.